Pile-Up

Today I am fucking thankful, grateful, and blessed.

I need to start this story by saying that I suck at checking the fucking weather. Okay… so I heard a rumor it was going to snow… and heard it was going to be a lot… but holy shit balls. Basically I left my hotel this morning and entered a world of white chaos with completely horrific road conditions. My friends had headed out before me though and had called to warn me of the ice and white-outs, so I took it slow.

So here’s the thing… when you live in a state with some of the worst winters, you’d expect people know how to drive in shit conditions. Nope. One bad winter driver can start a hell of a domino effect. A pile-up. And fuck… there was a big one. Hundreds of cars, trucks, trailers, and snowmobiles completely ruined. Literally HUNDREDS of vehicles were flipped and smashed all over the highway. I drove through and was thinking… “holy shit… I’m glad I missed that”… and fucking fuck. The car I was trailing behind suddenly disappeared into pure whiteness. (For those of you who live in beautiful snow-free areas, this is referred to as a white-out. Take a piece of white printer paper, put it directly against your face, and open your eyes. That’s a fucking white-out.) I barely get enough time to think, “okay… this is bad… fuck me” and the white-out clears. Then I see red. The bright red of dozens of brake lights in front of me. It was another fucking pile-up and I was fucking in it. Instant sweat and panic hit me. Somehow I was able to serve/drift onto the shoulder just enough to avoid the car directly in front me, but… that left my rear exposed. I took a second to look behind me and time literally stopped. There were vehicles… hauling ass… coming fucking straight at me. So… I braced myself for impact.

Long story short… I was extremely lucky today. Lucky by mere inches. Cars were fucked up all around me and somehow I was able to get out with my life and car unscathed. My usually easy hour and a half drive turned into four hours of detours, back roads, hellish highways, and panic attacks. However, through this nightmare I was able to see people being just fucking great people. Nobody today was yelling or placing any blame for what had happened. I just saw people who were all stuck in a very shitty situation together being kind, helpful, and caring to one another.

So, I’ll end this adventure with a few things I learned today…

Watch the fucking weather, keep boots in the car like my mom always says (Converse aren’t the fucking best in a foot of snow), and never let a shitty situation bring out the worst in you.

And damn… it feels fucking great to be home.